Chapter 11: Act of Kindness

Beatrice and Lucia were in Granite Cave, the cave that resided in Dewford town, and were standing back-to-back, completely surrounded by countless wild Golduck. Hiding in fear between the two was a Vulpix with a ribbon tied around its neck holding a plastic bag, and a Marshtomp.

There had to be at least 100- no, 300 Golduck all coming in all directions to fight them.

"You ready, Beatrice?!" Lucia grinned and cracked her knuckles before entering a battle stance. The purple haired girl's Shelgon stood in front of her, glaring furiously and ready to fight. Machoke was out of his Pokeball as well, he was in a battle stance of his own. Beatrice flipped her hair before activating her invoker armor.

"Of course I am." She said, She tossed her pokeball in the air, and out came Slowpoke, who plopped right on his trainer's head. "Let's do this."

Beatrice and Lucia shared a single nod before rushing into combat.

~~2 hours earlier~~

Every Vulpix pack had a single Ninetales to lead them.

And being near the beach-like land of Dewford town, a fire type had to be careful.

"Stay near the Pack," The leading Ninetales said. Every Vulpix that followed nodded in agreement.

All but one- A Vulpix who wore a ribbon around his neck.

"We're going to the same way again!?" The ribbon wearing Vulpix cried in protest. "All we're going to do is go as close as possible to that cave, and then eat the scraps that the water-types leave behind!"

"For Fire-types like us that were born on this island, we don't have much of a choice." Ninetales said. "Swimming off this island is out of the question."

"Yeah! They'll just blast us with their water attacks if we try asking for some food! Then we'll be knocked out before we know it!" One other Vulpix cried.

"Yeah, just listen to Mom!" Another roared.

"I don't want to eat the leftovers of berries!" The ribbon-wearing Vulpix said. "If you guys don't want to steal some berries, then I'll do it!"

"You will do no such thing," Ninetales said.

"But- I can go on adventures on my own!" Vulpix cried. "I got this ribbon to prove it! I got it all on my own when I went adventuring before, remember!? I can do this!"

"I'll say it one last time," Ninetales said. "Do not leave the pack. We will eat anything we find. Scraps are better than nothing." All of his pack stared at the ribbon wearing Vulpix as though he were the odd one out. After breathing a defeated sigh, the Vulpix nodded. Soon, the pack went on their way. They did their normal procedure: They went as close as they possibly could to Granite Cave and stopped. Then, they waited. They waited, and waited, and waited. Sometimes, the water type Pokemon would toss their leftover food out of the cave, where the pack could take and eat. And eventually, food did come. Once it touched the sandy ground, Ninetales went first to grab the leftovers.

"I hope Mom finds a lot this time... I'm starving..." One Vulpix said.

"You're starving?! I didn't eat last time we came here! It's my turn to eat today!" Another cried.

As his siblings kept fighting about who would eat what, the ribbon wearing Vulpix shook in anger. Was he supposed to just allow his pack to just eat scraps, and possibly starve? Just because the water types didn't want to share? Soon, Ninetales came back with small bits and pieces of berries in her mouth. She placed them on the ground, and the group of Vulpixes leapt onto it.

All except the one wearing a ribbon.

"Are you going to eat?" Ninetales said.

"Not this time," The lone Vulpix replied. Ninetales nodded, and soon, the rest of the Vulpix stopped eating.

"Aww! I didn't get any this time.." One Vulpix said.

"I got some this time, but I'm not even full.." Another said.

"You can get more tomorrow," Ninetales said. "Let's be off." Ninetales walked off, and the rest of the Vulpix followed.

Except the one wearing the ribbon. He stared as the pack walked on.

He wasn't just going to sit there and watch his family starve. He had to do something.

Ninetales turned around.

"Are you coming?" She asked. The one with the ribbon nodded quickly.

"Y-Yeah." He said. He hurriedly came closer, and the Ninetales turned and led the Vulpix away from the cave. As they walked, the ribbon wearing Vulpix slowed down, so much so that distance grew between him and the rest of the pack. Soon enough, the lone Vulpix stopped and watched his family walk off without him.

He spun around. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he had to bring back a ton of berries. His family deserved a feast, so he was going to give them one! The determined Vulpix ran toward the ocean waves. His eyes darted about, searching for something, anything to contain all the berries he'd steal. Storing them in his mouth would be a terrible idea, he'd just eat them. Eventually, his eyes flashed once he saw a lone plastic bag floating near the shore. Vulpix dashed over to it and grabbed it with his mouth. It spun around and trotted quickly over to the cave where the Water-Types lived and peeked inside.

There were at least ten, no, twenty Golduck all circling a tower of berries. Standing among them was a single Marshtomp, who looked sad.

"Man, you got the motherload of Berries this time!" One Golduck said.

"Yeah, nice job, Marshtomp!"

"Yeah..." Marshtomp grumbled.

"What're you sad about?!" Golduck cried.

"Well-" I'm just thinking about the fire types that live here." Marshtomp said. "Shouldn't we, y'know, save some for them?"

"Wha- Are you out of your mind!?" Another Golduck cried.

"These berries are WAY too good! We wouldn't share this with our tribe, much less some random fire-types!"

"They can't really get food, so-"

"Shut up!" A Golduck cried.

"Yeah, shut up!" Another cried.

As Marshtomp sighed and walked away from the crowd who leapt at the pile of berries, Vulpix moved. He stuck to the shadows, staying behind large boulders. The sounds of the Golduck smacking their bills and chewing with loud vigor was getting on the Fire type's nerves. Getting close was the easy part- but getting through that crowd of Golduck burying their faces in the berries would be the hard part.

Maybe he had to wait for the Golduck to get full and get food-comas. But that would mean he'd get leftovers.

Again. That won't do.

As the Golduck continued to feast on the berries, Marshtomp slowly approached the crowd and plucked a few berries from the pile.

"You'd better not be leaving some berries for those fire types!" A Golduck cried, turning around and pointing at the Ground/Water type. Marshtomp shook her head quickly.

"No! I'd never do that! I'm eating it! See?" Marshtomp took a bite of the Berry. The suspicious Golduck narrowed its eyes before turning back. Marshtomp sighed before tossing the remains of the berry to the cave entrance.

"I don't know why you like wasting your food like that!" Another Golduck cried, noticing Marshtomp.

"Right?! Such a waste! Whatever."

Vulpix watched with surprise. That Marshtomp was the one who was giving his family the scraps?! As the Marshtomp turned around and walked back toward the tower of berries, she looked around, as though she were looking to see if any Golduck were watching. Vulpix saw her eyes wandering close to where he was hiding, behind a small boulder. Vulpix slowly moved himself away from cover as Marshtomp's eyes wandered about, and almost immediately, the water type noticed him.

"Wh- What're you-" She whispered. "What're you doing here?! The Golduck will-"

Vulpix said nothing, he just opened the plastic bag he was holding. Marshtomp blinked before nodding. Slowly, Marshtomp walked over to the pile of Berries that was slowly becoming smaller. She grabbed a Berry, then walked backwards without turning toward the hiding Vulpix.

There were a few Golduck that were watching her. She knew this. So Marshtomp opened her mouth and tossed the berry in an 'attempt' to throw it into her mouth. Instead, if flew over her head and right to Vulpix, who hurriedly ran and put the berry in the plastic bag.

"Darn. Gotta try again," Marshtomp said. She walked over to the pile of berries, backed up to where Vulpix was, and tossed her berry over her head while opening her mouth. Vulpix quickly stuffed it into his plastic bag.

This continued for a good while, the Golducks were none the wiser.

Except for one.

"Hey- Why do you keep trying to throw the berry onto your mouth!? You stink at it- don't try it again!" One Golduck said, approaching the Marshtomp and pointing her way.

"I'm trying to practice, is all! Besides, there's plenty of berries!" Marshtomp said.

"You're starting to tick me off! If I see you try that one more time, you'll be sorry!" Marshtomp sighed as the Golduck walked away. She then turned her head to Vulpix.

"Is that enough?" She whispered.

The berries Vulpix obtained should be enough for everyone in his family, but it'd only last one day. If he wanted to ensure that they wouldn't eat scraps again for a while, he'd need more. Vulpix shook his head. Marshtomp sighed and hurried over to the rapidly depleting berry tower and grabbed a bunch of them. She then walked over to the corner where Vulpix was and crouched down. She was far away from the crowd of Golduck still circling their food. After making sure no one was watching her, Marshtomp quickly spun around to Vulpix.

"Give me your bag!" Marshtomp whispered. Her heart was racing. Vulpix dropped the plastic bag, and Marshtomp put the entire hand-full of berries into the plastic bag. She then stood up and turned around, nearly gasping once she came face to face to a Golduck standing right in front of her.

"What did you just do?" The Golduck said. .

"N-Nothing! I- I was just saving berries for lat-"

"Don't you try and pull a fast one one me! I saw everything! Hey! Guys!" Golduck pointed at Marshtomp. "This Marhstomp's trying to share food with a Fire-type!" The entire group of Golduck became laser focused on Marshtomp and Vulpix.

"Uh- No! I can- I can explain!" Marshtomp said. "I-.."!

"There's no way you can explain yourself out of this one!" One Golduck cried.

"Yeah! We're gonna crush you to bits!" The entire group of Golduck started snickering with mischief as they approached the two Pokémon.

"The cave shouldn't be too far from here," A proud and confident girl's voice echoed, and all the Golduck stopped in their tracks. The group of Pokémon saw two shadows approaching them.

"What kind of Pokemon do you think we'll find?!" An excited, tomboyish girl's voice cried.

"Hopefully the kind that can match my elegance and grace." The proud one said.

"ThE KiNd ThAt CaN MatCh mY EleGance and GraCE- Yeah, shut up!"

"You know, they say imitation is the purest form of flattery."

"Yeah, as if."

"Weren't you the one who said that you wanted to be more like me?"

"Wha- You did too!"

"Yes, I did. And unlike you, I'm able to accept that. Your reaction, however, tells me that you-"

"You shut your mouth! If you keep talking about what happened earlier, I'll punch you in the face!"

"Such vulgarity! At this rate, you'll never be more like me!"

"Nyeh, Neyh, Nyeh, I'll NEveR bE lIkE YoU- Shut your stupid fac-" The human girls soon came to the cave entrance, and both widened their eyes in shock.

"What's going on here?" The red-haired girl among them said.

Marshtomp quickly picked up Vulpix and ran toward the humans.

"Marshtomp! Marshtomp!" Marshtomp cried in distress. She pointed at the Golduck in fear.

"Vulpix! Vulpix!" Vulpix cried in panic. The crowd of Golduck hissed as they came closer.

"Not sure what's going on here…" Lucia said, stepping forward. "But, those Golduck look like they were bulling these two..."

A single Golduck came close and lunged at them.

"Oh, no you don't!" Lucia cried, dashing in and smashing her fist straight into Golduck's face. The blow was strong enough to send Golduck flat on his back. The rest of the Golduck turned and ran away. Soon, the knocked down Golduck stood up and followed the rest.

"Huh.. Wonder what that was all about." Lucia said, cracking her knuckles. "But uh, if we're going in further, I'm gonna do this, just in case," Lucia pulled out both Pokéballs, and tossed them. Both Machoke and Shelgon came out with battle cries.

"I won't let my Pokémon out until I'm sure there's a threat," Beatrice said. "Anyway, we seemed to have saved the day. So let's go find some Pokémon."

"Those two look like good Pokémon to catch," Lucia said, pointing down at Vulpix and Marshtomp. The two Pokemon in question widened their eyes.

"How rude! We can't just attack Pokémon who were clearly victims! I say we let them be. That, or ask them if they'd like to join us. That's more polite."

"Yeah, yeah. So- both of you! Would you-"

"GOLDUCK!" Golduck cried out, and both trainers spun their heads to the largest crowd of Golduck they'd ever seen approach them.

"Oh-Oh my.." Beatrice said.

"Oh crud..!" Lucia said. Beatrice turned around and noticed the cave entrance was blocked by more Golduck that approached them.

They were cornered. Slowly, the girls moved until they were back to back.

"There's so many Golduck..!" Beatrice said.

"Almost too many…!" Lucia replied. "But..!"

Lucia grinned, and Beatrice smirked.

"We'll just have to beat them all! You ready, Beatrice!?" Lucia entered a battle stance.

"Of course I am," Beatrice flipped her hair before pressing the button on her invoker Necklace to activate her armor. She tossed her Pokéball into the sky, and out came Slowpoke, who plopped right on Beatrice's head.

"Let's do this," Beatrice said.

The Duo shared a nod before rushing into battle.